Artificial tooth



w. H.. BOWMAN.

ARTIFICIAL TOOTH.

ED NOV l APPLICA 1919- I I l,386,?6% PatentedAug. 9, 1921.

FIG? 21 Show;

PATENT FFHQ.

ARTIFICIAL TOOTH.

menace.

Specification 01 Letters Patent.

Patented Au 9, 1921.

Application filed November 1, 1919. Serial No. 335,001.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER H. BOWMAN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State ofPennsylvania, have invented cerlain new and useful Improvements inArtificial Teeth, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates particularly to that class of artificial teeth thatare adapted to be mounted on a plate or mounting of vulcanite, metal orother suitable material, which may be retained in the mouth of thewearer by any of the well-known means, as, by suction, adhesion orotherwise, and is especially directed to teeth in which the retaininganchor members are formed of metal and attached to the tooth body afterthe biscuited tooth has been baked or fired, and reduced to a porcelainstate.

The principal objects of my invention are to provide an artificial toothso formed that its anchor or attaching member may be applied at the timeof setting up the denture embodying the teeth, and be separatelysupplied by the manufacturer, so as to be interchangeably engaged, onewith the other, by the operator and be capable of replacement withoutthe necessity of revulcanization.

Other objects of my invention are to provide an artificial tooth whoseanchor or attaching member is capable of being formed of an inexpensivemetal or alloy, and, therefore, may be relatively larger andconsequently stronger than the baked-in platinum pins commonly employed.

My invention further comprehends an artificial tooth having its anchoror attaching member so disposed and extended within the tooth body as todistribute the strains onthe'porcelain, which are incident to biting orchewing, and which tend to fracture teeth at the region of engagementwith their attaching members.

My invention includes an artificial tooth having an attaching memberarranged to yieldingly expand within the tooth body and be therebyfrictionally engaged therewith and held firmly against the wallsthereof.

My invention further includes an artificial tooth having an anchor orattaching member arranged to be inserted within a suitably formed recessin the tooth body and be automatically locked and retained therein, andthereby prevented from accidental displacement.

The form of my invention as hereinafter described, comprehends anartificial tooth having a recess extending longitudinally therein towardits incisive edge, and having its lateral and incisive walls undercut toreceive an anchor or attaching member which is preferably of I-beamcross section, having a central web terminating along its opposite edgesin oppositely extended flanges, the flanges along one side of said webbeing arranged to extend behind the undercut walls of the recess in thetooth body and being extended longitudinally beyond the web so as toproject incisively behind the pin guard of the tooth body, saidextension being provided with a spring tongue bent backwardly andarranged to frictionally engage the labial wall of said recess, tothereby hold the flange frictionally engaged against the lingual wall ofsaid recess, and said tongue being arranged to engage a notch orshoulderin said recess to prevent the accidental displacement of the attachingmember from the body of the tooth.

My invention also includes all of the various novel features ofconstruction and arrangement as hereinafter more definitely specified.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a central longitudinalsectional view of a tooth adapted to receive an attaching anchor memberconstructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a view similar toFig. 1 showing the attaching anchor member applied thereto; Fig. 3 is atransverse sectional view of said tooth and attaching anchor membertaken on the line 33 in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of saidattaching anchor member; and Fig. 5 is a longi-- tudinal sectional viewshowing the tooth engaged with a vulcanite plate by the attaching anchormemberwhich, for convenience of illustration, is shown in elevation.

In said figures, the tooth body 1 comprises the bite 2, which is curvedto simulate a natural human tooth, a ridge-lap 3, and a plane lingualsurface forming the shut l intersecting the ridge-lap 3 at itslinguo-gingival termination, and terminatreduced to the porcelain state.

ing linguo-incisively in the pin guard 5, which forms thelinguo-gingival termination of the bite 2.

The tooth body 1 is provided with an undercut retaining recess 6 whichextends .into the tooth body through the gingivalsurface or ridge-lap 3,and which is connected with a relatively narrow slot 7, opening throughthe lingual wall or shut 4L, and

as clearly shown in the drawings, extends in is cisively behind the pinguard 5 to form the pocket 9. v

The tooth body formed as shown, is adapted to be provided with anattaching member, which may be engaged therewith after the tooth hasbeen baked or fired, and

member, as best shown in Fig. 4, is preferably in the form of an I-beam,and may be conveniently cut from lengths of wire of I-beam' crosssection, and comprises-the web 10, terminating lingually in thelaterally ex- @curely engaged with the denture ;tended flange l1 andlabially in a similar flange 12,:which not only extends laterally inopposite directions from the web 10, but also projects incisively intothe pocket 9,

andretu-rned upon itselfto form the spring tongue 13, which. may bepreferably curved away fromthe flange 12 at its free end 15,

to engage a suitably formed notch or shoulderflfl in the labial wallofthe recess" .6, asshown in Fig. 5.

As best shown in Fig. 5, the mounting 17 ofvulcanite or other suitablematerial may be packed into the recess 6 between the flange 12-andtongue 18, and around the flange 11, so that, as will be obvious, whenthe denture is vulcanized, the tooth body 1 will be sethe attachinganchor member. 7

It may be here noted that the spring tonguel13 tends to maintain" thesurface of theflangelQ in contact with the undercutsurfaces of therecess 6, and not only frictionally retains said anchor member with thetooth, but prevents the material of which the denture plate 17 is formedfrom entering between the flange and the tooth surface.

It will be obvious that a tooth thus formed may be provided with anchormembersformed of different metals, and the tooth stockinay be maintainedin various shades and separately sold as required, being ap- 7 plied bythe operator at the time when the tooth is set up for vulcanization.

Furthermore, any invention is advanta- :geous in that should theporcelain tooth become broken, it maybe readily replaced by slippinganother tooth into its place with 1 essential features of my Said anchorplate cement in the recess 6 to form a cemented connection with theattachment remaining, embedded in the denture plate 1, sothat it isunnecessary in case of a broken tooth to revulcanize the denture platewhereby a replacement of the tooth may be accomplished within a fewminutes which otherwise would require several hours time shouldrevulcanization be necessary.

I do not desire to limit my invention to the precise details ofconstruction and'arrangement as herein set forth, as it is obvious thatvarious modifications may be .to frietionally engage said member withthe surfaces ofsa1drecess.

2. An artificial tooth comprising an attaching anchor ineinberengageablewith a suitably formed recess therein after it hasbeen reduced to theporcelainwstate, said anchor member having a flanged web arranged" toproject lingually from said tooth, and having a yielding projectionarranged to extend incisively into the body of saidtooth, and tofrictional'ly engage said anchor member with the walls of said recess.

A tooth-attaching anchor member. in the form of an l-beam, ihavingconeof'its flanges extended longitudinally beyond its web portion, andreturned upon itself to form aspiring tongue. Y r

' 4;. In combination with a base plate, an artificial tooth, said toothbeing provided with a T-slot extending longitudinally thereof along itsshut surface, an; attaching anchor extending from said T-slot linguallyinto the body of the base. plate, said anchor being provided at itslabial end with an incisively projecting resilient element bentbackwardly upon itself. 1

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set myhand and seal this 27th day ofOctober, A.D.1919. r

"WALTER H. BOWMAN. [L.S.] Witnesses:

Jiissm E; MARTIN, GEO. H. NOTTAGE.

